Many businesses, especially Internet-based enterprises, face increasing demands for computing capacity. As these demands for computing capacity have grown, a typical approach has been to continue to acquire enough computing capacity (i.e., hardware devices) to meet some service level objective, which was usually in excess of a normal service level. Alternately, or in addition, additional computing capacity may be desirable in the event of a casualty that results in loss of one or more hardware devices so as to maintain uninterrupted the desired service level. This traditional approach to acquiring computing capacity translates into costly oversizing or the risk of low service levels. For example, to provide service at an Internet Web site, the Web site operator might acquire enough server capacity to handle 80 percent of peak load. This meant that at peak, some Web site customers might not be able to access the Web site, while at off-peak hours, some servers might be idle. The closer the Web site operator tried to come to handling peak load, the larger the idle server capacity would be in off-peak hours.